Jamie George will make his first England start in Saturday's match against Samoa, with Eddie Jones omitting Dylan Hartley from the Test lineup for the first time in his tenure. As was the case against the Barbarians in May, George Ford and Chris Robshaw have been named co-captains.
George, who started all three British and Irish Lions Tests against New Zealand over the summer, has hitherto won all of his England 19 caps from the bench – an international record. The Saracens hooker is finally given the No2 jersey, however, with Hartley, who has captained England for all 22 Tests since Jones took over, named as a replacement.
Jones talked up Hartley’s captaincy credentials last weekend, giving his biggest indication yet that the hooker would stay in the role through to the 2019 World Cup after perhaps his best performance since the Australian took over. With this England’s last Test of the year, though, there was an increasing sense that now was the opportune time to turn to George.
Robshaw, meanwhile, is named at openside and as captain, along with Ford, a little more than two years after fulfilling both roles at the disastrous 2015 World Cup. Jones was disparaging about his ability to play at seven at the time but has since come to heavily rely on the Harlequins flanker.
“This is an exciting squad to play against Samoa and we are expecting them to be immensely physical and committed this weekend,” Jones said. “We want to follow up last week’s performance against Australia and play better again this week. Our intent in every game and every training session is to be better.”
In total Jones has made nine changes, with starts for Ellis Genge at loosehead and Charlie Ewels in the second row while Maro Itoje comes in at blindside and Sam Simmonds gets the nod at number eight in the absence of the injured Nathan Hughes. Danny Care is also rewarded for his fine cameo against Argentina, with the No9 jersey.
As expected, Mako Vunipola and Owen Farrell are the two players to drop out of the match-day squad – joining fellow Lions Jonathan Joseph and Anthony Watson in being rested – but there is a return for Mike Brown at fullback after a head injury. As anticipated, outside Ford are Alex Lozowski and Henry Slade, meaning the same 10-12-13 combination in the first Test in Argentina in June while Jonny May and Elliot Daly continue on the wings.
Dan Cole stays at tighthead – Jones deciding to keep Harry Williams on the bench – while Joe Launchbury, man of the match last week against the Wallabies, keeps his place as Courtney Lawes provides lock and backrow cover from the replacements.
England: M Brown; J May, H Slade, A Lozowski, E Daly; G Ford (co-captain), D Care (Harlequins); E Genge, J George, D Cole; J Launchbury, C Ewels; M Itoje, C Robshaw (co-captain), S Simmonds.
Replacements: D Hartley, J Marler, H Williams, N Isiekwe, C Lawes, B Youngs, P Francis, S Rokoduguni.
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